Saturday, Sunday, Monday At The Stratford Festival
Among the many good things retiring Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has done during his nearly forty years at the Stratford Festival is championing the work of Italian playwright Eduardo di Filippo (1900-1984). His Saturday, Sunday, Monday from 1959 is receiving a resplendent production at the Avon Theatre under Cimolino’s pitch perfect direction.
I saw the National Theatre production starring Frank Finlay and Joan Plowright in London in 1974, which I enjoyed immensely. Cimolino, working with Queens University Italian scholar Donato Santeramo, has created a new translation that outshines the Keith Waterhouse version used back then. It is a triumph.
Di Filippo doesn’t get produced very much, largely I suspect because his plays feature large casts (Saturday, Sunday, Monday has a cast of 17) and fairly elaborate sets. Cimolino’s production would be welcome even if it wasn’t so beautifully realized.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday is set in the spacious Naples apartment of successful clothing retailer Peppino Priore (Graham Abbey), his wife Rosa (Rose Napoli), and her father Antonio (Rod Beattie). As the play begins, Rosa is preparing her legendary veal ragu for a Sunday dinner at which the Priores will play host to friends and family.
This being a di Filippo play there is an extensive supporting cast of colourful Neapolitans, starting with the grown Priore children, Roberto (Jakob Ehman), Rocco (Emilio Viera), and Giulianella (Katarina Fiallos), who is betrothed, sorta, to Federico (Maher Sinno).
Filling out the guest list are Aunt Amelia, Peppino’s sister (Seana McKenna), her none-too-bright son Attilio (Josue Laboucane), and Raffaele (Geraint Wyn Davies), Peppino’s brother and a part-time actor whose specialty is playing Pulcinella in a commedia dell’arte troupe.
Prominent among the other guests are accountant and neighbour Luigi Ianniello (Gordon S. Miller) and his wife Elena (Michelle Giroux).
Things have been a bit tense between Peppino and Rosa of late we gather and the fact that Luigi the accountant has an intense admiration for Rosa and a friendship that borders on infatuation rankles Peppino no little bit. Visited by a green-eyed monster that gives Othello’s a run for its money, Peppino’s jealousy boils over at the Sunday feast in a full-throated denunciation of the affair his wife is carrying on with his friend.
Rosa’s anguished rejoinder to this insult may be the most powerful scene di Filippo ever wrote. You could have wrung me out like a wet dishrag at the second act curtain.
In the third act di Filippo pulls off a reconciliation that in lesser hands might seem contrived and trite. Here, author, director, and the two principal actors make it work magnificently.
In a programme note, Cimolino references Chekhov and the comparison is apt. However, the way di Filippo combines broad comedy and heart-rending psychological realism, often within the space of a few sentences, strikes me as more reminiscent of Shakespeare. (By the way, do take the time to read this note. It is excellent and will give you a deeper appreciation of di Filippo’s milieu. Like his directing, Cimolino’s programme notes are a cut or two above the average.)
Saturday, Sunday, Monday offers fully rounded roles for everyone, even the minor characters. Every single one of them has a rich backstory which di Filippo paints with deft strokes. Every one of them seems to have at least one memorable line.
For example, when Catielo the tailor (David Collins) is asked if clothes make the man, he replies, “No. God does. I just correct the mistakes.”
The Festival’s corps of seasoned pros brings all this to vibrant life. The fact that many members of the cast were in Cimolino’s 2023 production of di Filippo’s Grand Magic and thus have a familiarity with and affinity for the playwright’s comedic style is abundantly obvious.
Rose Napoli, in her Stratford debut, turns in a towering performance as the wronged Rosa. Superlatives fail me; she is simply brilliant. Graham Abbey, who directed A Midsummers Night’s Dream, another of this season’s hits, is alternately scary and poignant as Peppino.
I could write a glowing compliment for every actor in the cast. One reason is that di Filippo obviously loves each and every one of them. I will restrain myself and mention only a few.
Gordon S. Miller, who was so outstanding in Grand Magic, turns in another superb performance. Rod Beattie is a hoot as the grandfather who thinks he is still a master hat maker but maybe isn’t. Katarina Fiallos is adorably pert as the flighty daughter.
It is also palpable that di Filippo has the deepest affection for this household that one character likens to a Neapolitan comedy troupe. He can’t bring himself to be too hard on them and they can’t be too hard on each other. The way Peppino’s children manage to find his humiliating outburst funny is kind of sweet.
The author’s affection extends to all the denizens of his beloved hometown. In fact, there is something about the open-hearted warmth of all these nutty Neapolitans that makes you want to move in with them.
Douglas Paraschuk has created a beautifully appointed set, a minor masterpiece of the set designer’s art. The costumes by Francesca Callow comment on the characters perfectly and are almost characters themselves. I especially liked the way she bestowed an abundance of petticoats on daughter Giulianella and gave Rocco a series of pastel blazers just perfect for the younger son going off on his own to open a more upscale boutique.
Composer Wayne Kelso and sound designer Ranil Sonnadara provide an understated lilting soundtrack.
Rosa’s ragu is actually cooked onstage and in a clever move it is offered for sale in one-eighth cup veal-less portions during the two intervals for $3.50 (Canadian!). A small sign informs you that this is the same ragu the actors eat in the show. O the sacrifices actors make for their art!
Saturday, Sunday, Monday is one of the late-opening shows of the 2026 season and so, along with his superlative The Tempest, it marks the capstone to Cimolino’s Stratford career. He’s going out on a high note and will be missed.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday continues at the Stratford Festival through October 24, 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Stratford Festival website.
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